When rodents start nesting
by I-need-asprin
Summary: As far as assassination attempts go, this was probably the most laughable one yet. One year after New York, things are looking surprisingly good. Until the not-so-surprisingly obvious happens. Old foes return bearing little more than pain and secrets. Loki/Tony


All he knew was that something hurt.

Then he opened his eyes.

Greater pain hit him as four dull nails pierced his flesh around his arc reactor. He looked down, scream catching in his throat as ice cold terror flooded his brain. He was pulled from the sheets by the clamp in his chest. He was dragged up the wall, eyes suddenly seeing the perpetrator.

Tony clung onto the long, black and gold leathered arm as it outstretched towards him, looking wide eyed into those sickly green eyes. All that registered in Tony's heart-beat-drowned brain was fear. He couldn't pick out the amusement on Loki's face, nor the smile of his lips. There was only pain and panic. The nails twisted, digging a little deeper, one managing to scrape along a rib. He spluttered out a muted cry for help.

A fist crunched against the side of Tony's face before he fell into Loki's arms, unconscious.

* * *

Tony shot up on his bed; having to hold in the little cry that nearly escaped. Nothing came back to him; no memories no recollections. For a moment he was blank and confused. Then that moment ended rather abruptly and his head spun.

A hand flew instinctively to his chest but the arc reactor still being there didn't calm him at all. That's because under his blood stained t-shirt were four noticeable bumps beneath the fabric. Those 'bumps' really goddamn stung. His head hurt.

He looked around to the clock, trying to calm his frantic breathing. 5:02. How was it 5:02? Pepper lay soundly sleeping beside him, back towards him, like nothing had happened. She was softly snoring as if she hadn't noticed the struggling or heard his cries. He felt sick; really sick- he shot up and half limped, half stumbled along to the bathroom where the contents of his empty stomach poured down the drain. Hot acidic bile burnt his throat, his eyes watering furiously. He had just about finished before Pepper was behind him.

"What on Earth?!" Tony's stomach stopped flipping for a second, he looked at Pepper.

"How the hell did that bastard escape?" Tony turned back to the sink, then looked up into the mirror. He looked a lot better than he had expected or felt. He breathed harshly through gritted teeth, then holding his head as it started burning.

"Who? Tony what the hell happened to your chest?" He was spun round and the next thing he knew Pepper was taking off his shirt. There lay four red and green dents in his skin, dried blood running down in random, smudged lines. Stretching all the way from the bottom of his ribcage to just above his hips also lay eight long red lines, all surrounded by a slightly blue tinge. Pepper ran her finger along one, making him wince.

"I need to sort out the systems." Insisted Tony, holding her hands away from him. His vision stopped spinning and for the first time since he woke up he could actually remember his name.

"You need a hospital; Tony these are infected."

"I'll get Jarvis to have a look."

"He isn't online." Her face was determined, as usual.

"Then I'll fix him."

"Then let me clean you up."

"I'm fine!" That was snapping, but he wasn't exactly about to start singing gospels songs and praising the lord. Asshole anonymous was out of his cage and trying to get him.

Tony pushed Pepper away with as much compassion as he could muster this suddenly shite-tastic morning. He made his way downstairs, alone; nausea and dizziness overtaking him as he stumbled down the stairs. He was so anxious to be alone and collect his thoughts that he locked the doors and let no one in. Pepper couldn't follow, even when she tried. Once he truly looked into his lab, eyes still a little sleep-blurred, he stopped.

"Whoa!" Tony threw his arms up in defence and looked into the spot that was glowing a curious green. Loki had then appeared mid -air and fallen to the floor, hands clamped to his head, growling and in pain presumably. "You want an aspirin? Soup? Dude, a hot water bottle? Always works for Pepper during that time of the mon-"

"Shut up, Stark!" Loki steadied himself on one hand, crouching down on the floor on the balls of his feet. He looked up slowly, scowling at a laughing Tony.

"Doesn't look too pleasant." Tony was trying to be angry, trying to get all pissed, but this? This was funny.

"It isn't." Loki started his attempt to stand.

"Then why not go back; save your brother and co. a bit of a trip." He Loki was halfway up and struggling.

"You don't know anything Tony, as much as you think you do." He was now vertical but rocking like a drunkard. Tony had been laughing all through his efforts. He looked ridiculous. Loki's pain was helping in the effort for him to not be threatening or scary in the least.

"I beg to differ. Well, I don't know how you escaped. I don't know why you're here either, but I'm presuming it's something to do with you wanting to see me again. How sweet." With another hiss of pain, Loki fell to the floor. "That's it. I'm calling your friends. Jar-" Loki held up his hand, looking all too innocent all of a sudden, no smile on his face now. Tony knew that Jarvis wasn't working, but Loki didn't.

"Look," Loki coughed, "I'm going back anyway. No need to call ahead."

"Why would you go back willingly?"

"Because this hurts."

"What did you get out for anyway?"

"I…" He coughed, Tony wincing as blood hit the floor. "Was planning to finish what I started."

"That looks like it's going well." Tony was semi-pissed - but now he's mainly amused. This man isn't a threat, he can't even stand up. That pathetic noise Loki's making isn't fake, he knows that much. Tony pulled up a spinning chair and sat.

"Why come here?" He crosses his arms and leans back into the seat. "Seriously? I hate you, I hate what you stand for, what you did. _I want you dead. _I have security cameras dotted throughout the tower with a direct link to shield. With one phone call there could be a thousand and seven guns pointed directly at your pretty little face. Why don't you just teleport the hell away from me."

"Because there aren't a thousand and seven guns pointed atme."

"Touché. I'm a softie, really, it's ridiculous." Tony leans a little forward. "But why me? Why here?" Loki takes his sweet time in answering.

"You were the-" His mouth curled in pain, eyes blinkering shut for a second. "...The first on my list."

"Ahh, next to the eggs and bacon?" Tony continued studying the super-villain with interested eyes. Loki seemed to resent that but also seemed to have too little energy to do anything about it. "What's up with you anyway?" Tony has to ask, looking at how Loki looked in genuine pain. Why was he still rocking on his porch when he should be back at home? He didn't want to deal with any dead bodies, thank you very much. "If you're contagious - out."

"It matters little."

"Well, this isn't a goddamned hospital, so for the last time: Leave!" Loki stays his ground, defensively. "Right, well if you're not going to, I am. You like burritos?" Loki didn't stop growling long enough to reply. "I want a burrito."

He figured if the god of mischief was camping, there's no point even trying to protect his stuff. He'll just have to pray that Loki's got a little admiration for Midgardian Magics. Besides, all his cool stuffs in Pott's Towers.

Tony left to get a burrito.

Driving along in his Audi R8, the weather was nice, his cares free and everything just a little bit better. He'd downed enough pain killers so that his chest no longer hurt and his music was blaring so loud he could almost forget about the fugitive in his basement.

It's three and a half minutes before he reaches the burrito place. He thinks about buying two, but he's worried about what certain spices might do to certain non-humans. He parks somewhere probably illegal and then wonders over to the red and yellow neon sign. It's just flipped over the 'closed' sign as they see his face. Bless early opening takeaways. He chats with the owner, orders, gets served then chats some more. He leaves the shop, burrito already half eaten and wonders next door. Whoever decided to put a DIY shop next to food was a good man in his books.

Crumpling the greasy wrapper in his hands and basket-balling it into the bin, he starts whistling. The half-asleep teenage assistants all seem to perk up as he enters and Tony's glad that with all this fame he can bring something good to the world.

He wonders round the isles he knows so well, then it suddenly occurs to him that if Pepper wonders down into his lab, she's going to be a little upset. So while he's sifting through various sized plastic piping and flicking through door handles and locks, he dials her number.

"Tony?" She asks down the phone, obviously still not impressed with his earlier tantrum. He'd nearly been killed by someone he thought should've been long out of his worries. He was allowed to be a little grumpy.

"Hey, Pep, What you up to today?"

"You know, working. Please tell me you're at the hospital."

"You out of the building?"

"Of course, today's the meeting with Shubero Industries. Go to the hospital."

"Awesome - what time will you be back?"

"I told you yest-"

"It's been a long day, could you remind me?"

"It's a weekend trip, but Tony-"

"I see. So yeah, awesome. Have fun!"

"Tony-"

"Love you!"

"Listen-"

"I'll miss you!"

"Don't you dare hang u-"

"Kiss kiss!" The phone clicks, slips back into his pocket and he hauls the piping onto his shoulders and wraps the few hundred meters of wire over his hands. He pays, takes a few pictures and heads back for home, pipes sticking out the back of the roof-less car.

He hauls his cargo through the entrance, spotting the note tapped to the wall opposite the entrance. He read it as he walked with squinted eyes.

'Gone to work. Go to the hospital. Behave. x'

He passed it, hopping down the steps two at a time. It took a lot of skill to do that while being unevenly weighed down by plastic and copper. But, as Tony always says, he's got a lot of skill in a lot of things.

He nudged in the code to his lab manually with his elbow, still bitter about Jarvis' completely unintentional wipe-out. It wasn't his fault that the coffee was placed too far over the edge... Anyway, what's a few days without- He walked a little faster into the room.

Depositing his goods into the corner for later, he diverts his attention to the visiting Leper. Something quite humorous comes to mind and Tony leaves the lab again for a specific purpose. He returns quickly.

He then turns his music up a little louder as he enters in a futile attempt to block out said visitors frantic panting and near-screaming. Tony chucks him the ice pack which he'd taken from the first-aid kit and watches as it falls to the floor and bumps Loki's feet. He chuckles to himself, putting a hand over his spice curdling stomach to settle it. The boys at the 'Mexican Miracle Fast Food Bar' were nice, if unfortunately named, but sure were generous with the especias mexicanas.

"Jarvis, cof-" He tuts again, deciding that he can forfeit the trip for coffee and just start working. But he doesn't just get straight to it, first he turns, still standing, arms crossed and lips amused to his very much incapacitated friend. "Now, is it me, or are you getting worse?"

Loki doesn't respond in anyway, but he stops crying out just long enough to grunt in irritation. The music's doing a fine job of drowning it out, but this track sucks. He keeps staring, trying to figure out what the hell to do with him. How ill is he? Is he even ill? Was he injured? There's no blood except the little pool on the floor and the little smudges round his mouth. Something wrong with the lungs then. He considers offering help, but then the idea passes with a quick laugh. He's then tempted to call in the rodent removal service, but for a while it seems like he's got a working buddy. He's got 'till Monday to be gone, then he'll get out the big guns. Even if he's as harmless as an armless mouse, he doesn't go near to him, still admittedly a bit wary, as he should be, but he has more pressing concerns as of late.

He got to work on Jarvis, the music playing so loud in his ears that he didn't notice when Loki stopped screaming and stood.

Loki walks up behind him, fingers outstretched, eyes watching the man work, and smiles.


End file.
